6 Innovative Design Brands Coming Out of L.A.

FLOWEN

Only upon close inspection does it become evident that the impossibly detailed, delicate-looking webs of metal in the new Flowen Specimens collection are, in fact, earrings and pendant necklaces. Inspired by both rock formations in Iceland and cellular structures, the pieces designed by the husband-and-wife team of Juan Azulay, 41, an architect and media artist, and Flavia Lowenstein, also 41, an accessories designer, are first digitally fabricated from silver powder using a next-gen 3-D modeling process and then plated with materials—including gold and a rubberized coating called gommato—by master craftsmen in Italy. "It's a marriage between cutting-edge technologies and old-world luxury craftsmanship," Lowenstein says, offering an apt description of the collection as well as their partnership. —Alison S. Cohn

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Azulay and Lowenstein; a Flowen gommato- and gold-plated pendant necklace with diamonds

BEEK

Kenna Florie and Birgit Klett of Beek—the name is a play on their initials—share a love of handmade leather sandals. Florie, 41, whose background is in fashion marketing, bought what she considered the perfect pair, a cognac toe-ring style, on a long-ago Italian holiday and wore them incessantly. Over a glass of chardonnay in Newport Beach last winter, Klett, 52, a footwear designer, bet her friend they could create new ones that exceeded Florie's high expectations. The result, handmade at a small family-owned factory in Mexico, is designed to support the arch and cradle the foot. Over a two-day manufacturing period, the leather is moistened and shaped into Beek's signature curvy sole, then hammered together using small brass nails. "Beek is about quiet luxury," Klett says. "About cherishing something." —Nancy MacDonell

Klett and Florie; a Beek leather sandal

KOROVILAS

"Crochet is a fall-weight lace," says Maria Korovilas, an alumna of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, who this fall expanded her self-titled line of lace dresses inspired by porcelain-doll clothes, among other L.A. flea market finds, into a full ready-to-wear collection. The 34-year-old designer looked to textiles made by her family in the Greek village of Filiatra, where she spent part of her childhood, to add handcrafted artisanal touches such as smocking, embroidery, and beading to her designs. "There's always going to be a little grandma in it," she says. "Cool grandma." —A.S.C.

Korovilas; a crochet look

LIZZIE MANDLER

A lot of young designers would count having a celebrity photographed wearing one of their designs as a major coup. Last year, Rihanna put Lizzie Mandler on the map when she turned up at Paris Fashion Week wearing no fewer than 35 of the jeweler's stackable rings, including linked bands in yellow, white, and rose gold as well as baubles dripping in diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds—basically, Mandler's entire collection. For the L.A.-bred 26-year-old, who studied jewelry design at Art Studio Fuji in Florence, Rihanna's styling was an object lesson in how to wear fine jewelry now: "Mix every single metal and every single stone, and stack rings on your fingers where they don't even really fit," Mandler says. "It's going to look amazing." —A.S.C.

ADAM DRAWAS IS CRUCIAL

"I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel, just refine it," says maverick Adam Drawas. Prior to founding his West Coast PR and marketing firm, Drawas compiled a diverse CV that included design consulting on knitwear for Fendi and working with superstylists Arianne Phillips and Rachel Zoe. Now the 34-year-old sees an opening in the market for fashion-forward skate shoes that won't break the bank—a niche he hopes to fill with his new line of slip-ons in plush Italian velvet and Japanese glitter leather, launching at L.A.'s Maxfield this fall for under $350. Explaining the rather unsubtle name of the new collection ("Adam Drawas Is Crucial"), Drawas says, "It's crucial to understand the creative stance and art form behind design. And how to produce and sell." —A.S.C.

Drawas; his glitter-leather slip-on

BUSCEMI

When streetwear vet Jon Buscemi decided to launch a limited-edition luxury high-top with the Parisian concept store Colette in 2013, he did so on the heels, so to speak, of Manolo and Co. Handcrafted from Italian calf leather with the sort of attention to detail usually seen in women's designer footwear—hand-painted edges, a signature heel—and cheekily named the 100MM, the shoe, from sole to ankle, measures just 5 millimeters shy of the stiletto height on Blahnik's iconic pointed-toe BB 105mm Pump. That Buscemi sold these fancy kicks only in men's sizes didn't stop Cara Delevingne and Jourdan Dunn from sporting them. Two years on, the 40-year-old designer has introduced an even higher-top women's 125MM. "But it's still got a men's sneaker vibe," Buscemi says. "I'd love to see a girl wearing it with a ball gown." —A.S.C.

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